Image

Early Warning Instrument

In July 2011 off the coast of New Hampshire WHOI senior engineering assistant Will Ostrom signaled the crane operator while recovering an ESP (Environmental Sample Processor) on the R/V Connecticut. The ESP is a robotic instrument that filters water, identifies microorganisms through DNA analyses, and sends the information to scientists ashore. WHOI biologist Don Anderson, an expert on harmful algae, plans to place five ESPs in the Gulf of Maine as an early-warning system to detect cells of the species Alexandrium in the coastal ocean before large-scale harmful algal blooms have a chance to form.(Photo courtesy of Will Ostrom, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution)